AT STAKE — National Football League Championship for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

PARTICIPANTS — Carolina Panthers (NFC) and New England Patriots (AFC). This is the fourth appearance for New England and the first appearance for Carolina.

SITE — Reliant Stadium, Houston. This is the second game hosted by Houston.

SEATING CAPACITY — 70,000.

DATE — Feb. 1, 2004.

KICKOFF — 4:25 p.m. MST.

NETWORK COVERAGE — By CBS-TV to more than 200 stations throughout the United States plus Bermuda and Guam.

By CBS Radio/Westwood One to 500 stations within the United States. The Armed Forces Televison will also provide broadcast throughout the world.

The game will be distributed internationally by the NFL and NFL International to 230 countries and territories in 28 languages.

PLAYERS' SHARE — Winners: $68,000 per man. Losers: $36,500 per man.

PLAYER UNIFORMS — AFC will be the home team, will use the West bench, and will have its choice of wearing its colored or white jerseys.

SUDDEN DEATH — If the game is tied at regulation time 60 minutes, it will continue in sudden death overtime. The team scoring first (by safety, field goal or touchdown) will win.

At the end of regulation playing time, the referee will immediately toss a coin at the center of the field, in accordance with rules pertaining to the usual pre-game toss. The captain of AFC team (the home team) will call the toss. Following a three-minute intermission after the end of the regular game, play will continue by 15-minute periods with a two-minute intermission between each such overtime period with no halftime intermission. The teams will change goals between each period; there will be a two-minute warning at the end of each period.

OFFICIAL TIME — The scoreboard clock will be official.

OFFICIALS — Seven officials and two alternates appointed by the commissioner's office.

TROPHY — The winning team receives permanent possession of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, a sterling silver trophy created by Tiffany & Company and presented annually to the winner of the Super Bowl. The trophy was named after the late coach Vince Lombardi of the two-time Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers prior to the 1971 Super Bowl. The trophy is a regulation silver football mounted in a kicking position on a pyramid-like stand of three concave sides. The trophy stands 20 3/4 inches tall, weighs 6.7 pounds. The words "Vince Lombardi" and "Super Bowl XXXVIII" are engraved on the base along with the NFL emblem.

ATTENDANCE — To date, 2,912,493 have attended Super Bowl games. The largest crowd was 103,985, the 14th Super Bowl at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.